just installed the 4.0 version of scott wallick’s plaintxtblog theme, which in layman’s terms is the file that makes this blog looks like it does. the change should be invisible to you, but the underlying functionality is better for me. i tweak it a bit to make it my own:

» i edit the styles.css file so that everything except the blog titles are in lowercase. pretentious, i know, but a queerspace.com tradition dating to 1998.

» i edit the header.php file to use the optimal title plugin (a better page title for the search engines) update: this plugin was deprecated and the functionality has been incorporated into wordpress. now all you have to do is make this change:

wp_title('»',TRUE,'right')

to the header.php file (take out the php the title at the end and the various slashes, so it looks like “post title » queerspace.com”)

to the style.css file add this to make the “search for” text go away:
.widget_search .screen-reader-text {
display:none;
}

» i delete the <meta name="description"> line so i can use the head meta description plugin (a better page description for the search engines). update: no longer necessary with plaintxt 4.6

now you know.

and now it’s in writing, so the next time i upgrade i’ll remember what to do.

and if you see anything odd or something i’ve forgotten, leave me a comment.

update: i also changed the way that the category dates display by editing “wp-includes/general-template.php” using a tip from wordpress.org. this is an edit to the wordpress files, not the theme, but as this post is serving as a repository for my edits, what the hell. also, updated the footer to include the creative commons license and other info. and also, edited “wp-includes/default-widgets.php” so that “select category” and “select month” are lowercase.

update: also, when you update your wordpress version, you should delete the readme.html file so that your wordpress version isn’t easily accessible.